Learn to Count!!!
Chipotle Says You Can Order 65,000 Menu Combinations - We Put That Claim to the Test (article by Walter Hickey of the Business Insider)
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chipotle-says-order-65-000-223046670.html
(& I should learn to link, but eh)
This article has it wrong.
Their claim is that there are only 24,000 possibilities.
What did they miss?
Let's take a quick look at one section of the menu, say salsa. The article claims there are only five choices: corn(C), mild(M), medium(D), hot(H), and none(N). Here is the problem. Let's look a true list of your options. You choose to have or not each of the items separately. Corn, yes or no? Mild, yes or no? ...
Here is a list of true options (I admit it's weird to choose both medium and hot, but you CAN do so. My wife chooses MH for the record.):
N
C
M
D
H
CM
CD
CH
MD
MH
DH
CMD
CMH
CDH
MDH
CMDH
Note that the first five items in the list are from the article. The article fails to include combinations of salsas. So how many salsa combinations are there? I count sixteen. How do we get that number? Well, there are four items and we have two choices for each option. Simplifying the rule from combinatorics, the total number of combinations is given by (number of choices per item - in our case 2) to the power of (number of total items in the list - in our case 4) or 2^4=16.
I also have to admit that it would be strange to ask for all the meats and they do not call out what the cost would be to have all of the meats, but the advertisement is for "flavor combinations." So let's look a bit further at the article. Based on the discussion above we need not even worry about what type of item is listed on the menu. We only need to worry how many items are on the menu. I count 16 from the list in the article (not including choice of item).
So how many are there? 2^16=65536 possibilities. Now this includes walking in, looking at the menu and saying, "Yuck, I don't think I want to eat here at all," and walking right back out. So there are 65535 ways you can fill your burrito, burrito bowl, salad or tacos (hard or soft).
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chipotle-says-order-65-000-223046670.html
(& I should learn to link, but eh)
This article has it wrong.
Their claim is that there are only 24,000 possibilities.
What did they miss?
Let's take a quick look at one section of the menu, say salsa. The article claims there are only five choices: corn(C), mild(M), medium(D), hot(H), and none(N). Here is the problem. Let's look a true list of your options. You choose to have or not each of the items separately. Corn, yes or no? Mild, yes or no? ...
Here is a list of true options (I admit it's weird to choose both medium and hot, but you CAN do so. My wife chooses MH for the record.):
N
C
M
D
H
CM
CD
CH
MD
MH
DH
CMD
CMH
CDH
MDH
CMDH
Note that the first five items in the list are from the article. The article fails to include combinations of salsas. So how many salsa combinations are there? I count sixteen. How do we get that number? Well, there are four items and we have two choices for each option. Simplifying the rule from combinatorics, the total number of combinations is given by (number of choices per item - in our case 2) to the power of (number of total items in the list - in our case 4) or 2^4=16.
I also have to admit that it would be strange to ask for all the meats and they do not call out what the cost would be to have all of the meats, but the advertisement is for "flavor combinations." So let's look a bit further at the article. Based on the discussion above we need not even worry about what type of item is listed on the menu. We only need to worry how many items are on the menu. I count 16 from the list in the article (not including choice of item).
So how many are there? 2^16=65536 possibilities. Now this includes walking in, looking at the menu and saying, "Yuck, I don't think I want to eat here at all," and walking right back out. So there are 65535 ways you can fill your burrito, burrito bowl, salad or tacos (hard or soft).